Health supplements are big business. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s global. Millions of people supplement their diets with additional health products. However, not all supplements are created equal, and some are better than others are.

Here, we are going to teach you how to choose a supplement. It’s important that you choose wisely, because although things rarely of wrong, they can on occasion. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, as the old adage goes.

Do you need the supplement? The first thing that you should really investigate is whether you need the supplement at all. Many supplements are unnecessary, and what you’re really buying is “expensive urine”, as some experts say.

It’s important to research the problem thoroughly. Make sure that you understand what the supplement does. Also, be aware of how it might accumulate in the body. With most supplements, your body will expel any excess, but with some, it will store it and this can be dangerous.

You should research scientific studies to see if they have any evidence that the supplement works for the purposes for which you are using it. There might not be any evidence. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should avoid the tablet. Instead, try to find other people with your issue and see how they rated the supplement, if they used it.

Is the supplement subject to quality and safety testing and standards? If you're buying supplements in the UK, from the UK, they need to adhere to the rules of the Food Standards Agency – you can find more detailed information on the government website. This means that products meet the basic safety standards required to be safe for human consumption. Before you start taking a supplement, you should research thoroughly.

Stick to popular and well-known brands. By sticking to common brands, you can at least rest assured that other people use them, and if there was a problem, that it would be easy to discover. Brands such as Biocare products and Bio-Kult are well-respected and popular brands, and are therefore likely to be safe. However, make sure that you dig around in the review sections, to see what users actually think. Sometimes, the reviews are put out by the company itself, and as such, aren’t reliable indicators.

Once you have found a brand that works for you, stick with it. This is one way to ensure that you remain safe. You know that you're taking a supplement that suits you, and so you don’t have to worry too much about adverse effects. If you were likely to have them, they would probably have already happened by now. However, do watch out for unusual symptoms, because you never know.

Do a bit of digging into the company background. You can look at sites like Company Check, to make sure that the supplier/manufacture is a bone fide business. Company Check will have details about how long they’ve been trading and how profitable they are. A healthy business of a decent age is likely to be safe. If they weren’t, they’d go out of business.